Lottery Board Member Quits Over Hiring

A member of the Georgia Lottery Board says she resigned because she felt the board was being pressured to hire the governor's budget director to run the lottery, one of the nation's most successful.

Frances Rogers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she hung up the phone during a conference call to discuss a new lottery president last week and immediately resigned.

Brian Robinson, spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal, said the governor's chief of staff called board members individually nearly two months ago to tell them who the governor's choice for the job was. He said it was Debbie Dlugolenski Alford, director of the governor's Office of Planning and Budget and a member of the lottery board.

The board is expected to approve the appointment of Alford on Oct. 23.